When Amazon Walks Away, Central Florida Looks for What Comes Next
Two "zombie" grocery spaces near Apopka and Winter Garden are back on the market. Here's what it takes to fill them right.
Amazon's announcement that it would shutter all its Fresh and Go concepts was a big national headline — but locally, it lands differently. In Central Florida, two spaces that were purpose-built for an Amazon Fresh that never arrived are now fully available. One is in the Colonial Shoppes at Bear Lake center near Apopka. The other is in Winter Garden's Daniels Road Business Park. Both have been in limbo since Amazon pulled back in 2023. That waiting period is coming to an end — and the way these deals get resolved will say something meaningful about where the Central Florida retail market is headed.
Atrium's own Jill Roberts was among the commercial real estate voices OBJ turned to for context on what's really at stake.
These Spaces Were Built for One Tenant — and That's a Problem
Both the Winter Garden and Maitland locations were new construction, designed from the ground up for Amazon Fresh. The Apopka location was a renovation. When Amazon walked away, the spaces didn't just lose a tenant — they lost the tenant they were designed around.
That creates a specific kind of pressure on ownership. The longer a big-box space sits empty, the more expensive the problem gets — not just in lost revenue, but in lost momentum for the surrounding retail ecosystem. A center with a dark anchor is a harder sell to every other tenant in the building.
The third Central Florida location — in Maitland — already has a resolution in progress: Crunch Fitness is backfilling the 43,000-square-foot building at Trelago Market. That deal happened off-market, quietly, and it's likely the same quiet process is already underway in Apopka and Winter Garden.
What Jill Roberts Sees — and Why OBJ Called Her
Jill Roberts has been advising on commercial real estate transactions across Central Florida long enough to understand exactly what big-box vacancy means for owners. She was one of several local experts OBJ spoke with for this story — not because she's involved with these specific properties, but because she understands the mechanics of this problem better than most.
Her assessment was direct: "It's a very expensive venture. The developer loses income and opportunity when these big box spaces are vacant too long. The preference would be a comparable user."
That's the key word — comparable. The ideal outcome for ownership is a tenant that matches the scale and traffic-driving power of a grocery anchor. Whole Foods has been floated as a possibility for locations that meet its site criteria (200,000+ people within a 20-minute drive, strong college-educated population base). But Whole Foods is selective, and not every site will qualify.
If a comparable grocer or high-traffic fitness concept isn't available, ownership can also sublease the spaces or negotiate lease termination with Amazon. The incentives to resolve this quickly are high on all sides.
What This Tells Us About Big-Box Risk
Amazon's retreat from physical grocery is a reminder that even the most-capitalized company in the world can misjudge a retail strategy. Purpose-built spaces are a significant commitment — and when the anchor tenant doesn't materialize, the fallout can take years to sort out.
In a market where retail vacancy is running around 5% overall and demand for well-located anchor space is real, these two properties have genuine opportunity. The Central Florida market is capable of absorbing this disruption. What it takes is the right tenant, at the right price, matched to the right space — and brokers and ownership groups with the patience and relationships to get there.
The Amazon Fresh story in Central Florida was always a bit of a ghost story — buildings dressed up for a tenant that never showed. That chapter is closing. What opens next will be worth watching.
Read the full OBJ story by J.C. Carnahan for complete details on ownership, locations, and likely next steps. Note: the article is behind a paywall. → Read it here
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